ly helpful in tracking down early Beck family history.

David Harris, (1.4.6.5,11.4.) an Angli-
can priest and a native of Murray Har-
bour, visited St. Paulinus Church in 2011
and recorded his thoughts of how things
might have gone the day that Vere was
baptized.

“As I walked up the path through the
Churchyard,” David wrote, “I thought
about how back in 1783, a couple ap-
proached the vicar of the parish - prob-
ably walking up this same path - to have
their new baby baptized. The couple were
John and Martha Lucy Beck. During the Father David Harris
service of Baptism, when the child was officially named, or “chris-
tened”, the vicar would have required John to answer this simple
request: “Name this child” John, would have proudly responded,
“Vere.” Here I was standing in the same place Vere was named and
baptized”

But why Vere? Was there an older family member named Vere? It’s
not a very common name and its origin is uncertain. Some sources
say its German and others say it’s French. The web site, behindth-
ename.com, says it’s from a Norman surname which was from a
French place name, which was itself derived from a Gaulish word
meaning “alder.” Another source describes it as an upper-class sur-
name in England with connotations of nobility due to Tennyson’s
poem “Lady Clara Vere de Vere” which praises the simple values of
simple folk. Whatever the source and meaning, it has always seemed
to be an appropriate name for someone ushered into this world by
the Great Meteor.

It’s not clear how long the family lived in Crayford after this, but
they moved to Scotland sometime in the next two years. John Mar-
fleet discovered a listing for the family among Scottish birth records.
It showed John and Martha Lucy Beck and seven children in records
from a church in the community of Old Kilpatrick, on the north

 

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